Yonkers may auction up to 250 properties obtained through foreclosure from delinquent owners who haven't paid their taxes.

The City Council is expected to vote Tuesday night on the first batch of 17 properties, which will be auctioned in the spring by Williams & Williams Real Estate Auctions. The property seizures, known as in rem, are part of a get-tough strategy.

Starting in 2013, Mayor Mike Spano's administration decided to aggressively prosecute those who have not paid their taxes by initiating tax lien foreclosure cases for those properties up to two years in arrears and initiating an in rem action for those properties in arrears for more than two years, according to city spokeswoman Christina Gilmartin.

Tax liens and in rem are two main ways cities collect unpaid property taxes.

Tax liens are sold by the city and bought by investors to collect the debt the way a debt collector would. Yonkers sells tax liens every year, though not all sell. If the liens aren't eventually paid, the city or lien owners can file a foreclosure action.

The second is in rem lawsuits, which the city hasn't done since the 1990s out of a desire to help homeowners.

"We do everything possible to keep people in their homes if we can," corporation counsel Michael Curti told the City Council's Real Estate Committee last week. "If there is one way to do it, we will give them every benefit and every courtesy possible."

Curti told the City Council that city officials expect to see another 200 to 250 properties taken through foreclosure and then auctioned.

Gilmartin said that aggressively pursuing tax deadbeats has recovered millions of dollars.

"The city has successfully completed the first in rem in many years and as a result of the efforts, have recouped over $3 million dollars in back taxes via taxpayer agreements and straight payments," Gilmartin wrote in an email.

Since 2013 the city has recovered more than $6 million through tax liens, Gilmartin added.

Some of the first 17 properties include a burned house at 18 Vineyard Ave. and a derelict mixed-used building at 205 Ashburton Ave.